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Waiting for a turnaround during this spring season

Last Updated 19 November 2018, 09:27 IST
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The spring has arrived in Jammu and Kashmir-described as paradise on earth. The season has brought smiles on the faces of people in the tourism industry as the good tidings have begun. Bookings have been encouraging despite mercury levels hovering unusually around 25 degree Celsius, which is almost eight to nine degrees more than normal temperature during this part of the year. The developments have warmed the cockles of boatmen's hearts.

For a visitor also, there is a visual treat as Asia's biggest Tulip Garden in Srinagar was thrown open on March 25.  The festival has been cut down by five days to 20 days as the temperatures have been on the higher side this year with rain-bearing clouds playing hide and seek. The rainfall is not even one-third of normal 125 mm during March, said an official. Tourists will have an opportunity to pick up the best of the Kashmiri handicrafts as a10-day exhibition will be held in Tulip Garden from April one.

    The tourism department officials are optimistic that the weather condition will improve and the state will experience rains.

 "I have already started receiving the tourists from different parts of the country. My family is happy over the good beginning of the tourism season," Abdul Majid, a house boat owner in the world famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, said with a smile. Long spells of militancy had hit once a booming tourism industry very hard. Srinagar city has 930 licensed houseboats in Dal lake, Nageen Lake, River Jehlum and Chinar Bagh.

    Generally, a house boat has two to four rooms. In a room three to four people can be accommodated. The rates of houseboats vary depending upon the facilities available.
According to houseboat owners, the state government has fixed Rs 4,500 as the rate for two persons for 24 hours in a houseboat room. This includes all meals. The spread varies from Indian to continental, with an option of Kashmiri food.

According to official figures, 77,383 tourists have visited Kashmir this year.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is busy with its efforts to attract more tourists to Valley this year. Already, it has declared 2010 as "Visit Kashmir" year. Tourism Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora hopes that this year will be the best year for tourism.
Last year, 4, 75,050 tourists, including 23,636 foreigners, visited Kashmir Valley. About four lakh pilgrims also participated in the annual traditional Amarnath Yatra.  The Shopian incident and subsequent protests and strikes last year came as a major set back for tourism sector.

According to the hotelier Mushtaq Ahmed, the tourists again visited Kashmir in October and November as the situation had improved by then.
"We are hopeful that the situation will remain peaceful this year and this will facilitate arrival of large number of tourists," the Tourism Minister said.
The Tourism Department will host major Kashmiri festivals in Bhopal, Indore, Surat, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata.

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(Published 27 March 2010, 16:00 IST)

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